SlipperySlope I believe is outside his field of expertise in crypto-currency. I don't think he is a cryptographer nor a programmer nor an economist nor a political scientist. He has an applied math background if I remember correctly, which is pretty general if considered in this context. If were in an applied math forum, I better shut up and listen more to him.
Correct in that I am not a crypto-currency expert yet, but my whitepaper has been received well enough to credential me for a modest speaking role at the Hashers United Conference to be held in Las Vegas this October. There is little new in the way of crypto that I bring to this community.
I am however a programmer with decades of Cobol and database experience in networked enterprise financial systems up to 1998. Subsequently I worked as a Lisp and Java programmer and project manager for Cycorp, a DARPA contractor performing artificial intelligence research. Now 8 years early retired from a salary job, I have drawn on both experiences, bringing a fresh approach to solving the problems Tim Swanson best describes in his recent book about Bitcoin.
Regarding the political and economic aspects of bitcoin, I am naively optimistic and defer to you on those issues.